A common refrain, "its been a long time since my last post". For those who know me somewhere besides here in this blog, it will come as no surprise that, yes, I am still alive. The past several months since my last post (I guess in September) have been uneventful health wise. Everything physically has been humming along and dialysis has been very good. As of this coming month it will be a full two years without any complications which, in the past have sent me to the hospital for an extended stay. As I stated a while ago, increasing my time to four hour treatments from three, has made all the difference, I believe, in stabilizing and extending the day to day benefits to be has from hemodialysis. My overall physical stamina and strength have truly never been better, as I continue to run at least 25 days a month, on average, with 130+ miles each month. With the summer upon us here in Ohio, I am also swimming, biking, and as promised to my wife, including some weekend day trips in the schedule. Our personal life has changed around here as our eldest daughter had a baby over the winter and we have fallen in love with her. We watch her several days a week and also take her from time to time for other outings because it is simply a joy to share "baby moments" together. I myself had never had children of my own, so sharing our granddaughters life has really filled that lost spot in my life.

With all the other children who still live at home getting older, my wife and I find that we are truly reflecting on what we want to do for ourselves in the next years to come. By no means are either one of old, 38 and 43. So as long as my dialysis and future medical demands can be scheduled and met appropriately, we are, I mean I am feeling much more confident to think larger about the possibilities of life, even with a dialysis schedule. I think this comes from not a place of being unsatisfied, or sad about where I am now, on the contrary, it has come from a deep joy of my life and my place in it with all the responsibilities I currently have. In fact I have started to work as a patient rep for my unit to reach out, just to listen or guide, other patients through this dialysis lifestyle thing, for the good or the bad. I have been extremely blessed to be able to experience dialysis and all the accompanying issues of being an ESRD (end stage renal disease) patient as I have through the years. But I am acutely aware of how fragile my good health, or my fellow patients on dialysis can be. I have said many times before, this is something I do, it is not who I am. That would go for anything that one feels defines them through life, that otherwise is, in essence, temporary and impermanent in nature.

Have a wonderful summer.